March 27, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Give as much of yourself as you can to as much of your higher power as you can understand. -- S.H.
The more we are in concert with God, the greater will be our pleasures in life. Recognizing our partnership with our higher power makes every decision easier, facilitates the completion of every task, and removes all uncertainty about our value to this world, particularly to those persons around us.

Knowledge that we are never alone, that in every circumstance our best interests are being cared for, softens whatever blow we encounter. The blows teach us; they are the lessons the inner self has requested, and let us never forget we have a ready tutor to see us through every assignment.

The more we rely on God to see us through the mundane activities as well as the troubling experiences, the greater will be our certainty that all is well, our lives are on course, and a plan is unfolding little by little that has our best interests at its center.

My understanding of God and the power of that presence is proportionate to my reliance on that power. Not unlike the power of electricity, I can plug into the source of the "light" of understanding and for the strength to see my way through any experience today.

From the book:

Each Day a New Beginning by Karen Casey

Each Day a New Beginning by Karen Casey. © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 26, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
 
Today, I recognize that I have spent much of my life expecting other people to meet the unrealistic demands and expectations I put on them to fulfill my needs and wants. In selfishness and vanity, I often rejected in anger those who failed or would not give me what I wanted or needed when I wanted or needed it. In those times of looking to the outside for fulfillment, I had not a clue how to look inside myself and beyond something stronger than other people to attain what since have become different needs and expectations. In AA and recovery, I understand now that I put my sobriety first and foremost above everyone and all else to earn acceptance, friendship, love and empathy. And my expectations of others were so unrealistic and selfish that I became needy to the point of being pathetic. Now, in AA and recovery, I see the consequences, sometimes disastrous, of putting all my expectations on others but am able to look inside myself and to a Power stronger than myself to earn what I need. Today, I will take from the reservoir of what AA and recovery have given me to meet my needs and not weigh anyone with expectations so selfish and heavy that I ignore that they, too, have their own needs. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

March 26, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
 
AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes also from working with other alcoholics. When you are trying to help a new prospect with the program, you are building up your own strength at the same time. You see the other person in the condition you might be in yourself and it makes your resolve to stay sober stronger than ever. Often, you help yourself more than the other person, but if you do succeed in helping the prospect to get sober, you are stronger from the experience of having helped another person.

Am I receiving strength from working with others?

Meditation for the Day
Faith is the bridge between you and God. It is the bridge which God has ordained. If all were seen and known, there would be no merit in doing right. Therefore, God has ordained that we do not see or know directly. But we can experience the power of His spirit through our faith. It is the bridge between us and Him, which we can take or not, as we will. There could be no morality without free will. We must make the choice ourselves. We must make the venture of belief.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may choose and decide to cross the bridge of faith. I pray that by crossing this bridge I may receive the spiritual power I need.

Hazelden Foundation

March 26, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
 
Reflection for the Day
I know today that getting active means trying to live the suggested Steps of The Program to the best of my ability. It means striving for some degree of honesty, first with myself, then with others. It means activity directed inward, to enable me to see myself and my relationship with my Higher Power more clearly. As I get active, outside and inside myself, so shall I grow in The Program.

Do I let others do all the work at meetings? Do I carry my share?

Today I Pray
May I realize that "letting go and letting God" does not mean that I do not have to put any effort into The Program. It is up to me to work the Twelve Steps, to learn what may be an entirely new thing with me - honesty. May I differentiate between activity for activity's sake - busy-work to keep me from thinking - and the thoughtful activity which helps me to grow.

Today I Will Remember
"Letting God" means letting Him show us how.

Hazelden Foundation

March 26, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
 
We in AA have many religious affiliations, and there are some of us who contend that AA is all the religion they need. Yet this fact remains: the spiritual facts on which AA is based would not have survived the ages but for the tenacity of formal religions.

Without religions, our moral, political and social structure would collapse. There is a lot in all denominations that can be criticized but, without them, life would be chaos.

Hazelden Foundation

March 26, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Being willing

People often ask, "How does the program work?" The how of this program is Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness. Often we must pray for willingness; sometimes we even have to pray to be willing to be willing!

We have very stubborn wills. If surrendered daily, however, they can accomplish much good for others and ourselves. Surely those who say, "I will, I will" and don't are not as close to the heart of God as those who say "I will not," but do!

Am I really willing?

God, help me realize that to do your will for me today, in however small a way, I must let go of my own will.

From the book:

Day by Day - Second Edition by Anonymous

Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 25, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, March 25, 2013
 
Today, as an alcoholic who drank dependently and compulsively, I will pay special attention to compulsiveness so as not to react to anyone or anything with the heightened emotions that nurtured the defects of my character. From a behavioral standpoint, we alcoholics drank with compulsion; as such, my addiction to alcohol is both physical and behavioral. To get the discipline and humility to prevent compulsion from gaining an upper hand in all my affairs, I can exercise Step Three as I begin this new 24 Hours by handing over to my Higher Power my will and ask instead for His will. Today, as I set out, I surrender my will - or self-will run riot - to my Higher Power, and I can have faith that He will bless me with His grace to act accordingly and responsibly instead out of the compulsion that contributed to my spiritual and mental disease. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

March 25, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, March 25, 2013
 
AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes from coming to believe in a Higher Power that can help you. You can't define this Higher Power, but you can see how it helps other alcoholics. You hear them talk about it and you begin to get the idea yourself. You try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to feel stronger, as though your prayers were heard. So you gradually come to believe there must be a Power in the world outside yourself, which is stronger than you and to which you can turn for help.

Am I receiving strength from my faith in a Higher Power?

Meditation for the Day
Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily, steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid. God will help and strengthen you, as long as you are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime work.

Hazelden Foundation

March 25, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, March 25, 2013
 
Reflection for the Day
If a chemically-dependent person wants to live successfully in society, he or she must replace the power of chemicals over his/her life with the power of something else - preferably positive, at least neutral, but not negative. That is why we say to the agnostic newcomer: If you can't believe in God, find a positive power that is as great as the power of your addiction, and give it the power and dependence you gave to your addiction. In The Program, the agnostic is left free to find his or her Higher Power, and can use the principles of The Program and the therapy of the meetings to aid in rebuilding his/her life.

Do I go out of my way to work with newcomers?

Today I Pray
May the Power of The Program work its miracles equally for those who believe in a personal God or in a Universal Spirit or in the strength of the group itself, or for those who define their Higher Power in their own terms, religious or not. If newcomers are disturbed by the religiosity of The Program, may I welcome them on their own spiritual terms. May I recognize that we are all spiritual beings.

Today I Will Remember
To each his own spirituality.

Hazelden Foundation

March 25, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, March 25, 2013
 
No man with certainty can see beyond this instant. Yesterday we had a friend, hale, hearty and bubbling over with energy and ambition. Today we write a letter of condolence to his widow. No one knows the day or the hour, but this we do know - we are alive right now, people are suffering right now, we can help them right now.

Hazelden Foundation

March 25, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Monday, March 25, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

If someone is going to control me, it might as well be me. -- Sarah B.

Ours is, and must be, a selfish program. Our recovery must be the most important thing in the world to us. Sometimes friends and loved ones are confused and hurt because we spend so much time and energy working at our recovery. It's hard to explain why, yes, we must go to another meeting; no, we can't skip it just this once.

But however difficult, however hurtful or confusing to others our behavior might seem, we must take care of our own needs first. We're no use to our friends and family if we've relapsed, and no use to ourselves, either. Our choices must seem like selfish ones. Our recovery must come first, before the demands of others or even our own comfort. We need to keep our new determination, and work toward a new way of life.

Before, we told ourselves we'd quit tomorrow, that something would happen to make us change. Now, at last, we have the tools to arrest our addiction, but the tools will only work if we use them.

Today help me be in control of my own destiny.

From the book:

Body, Mind, and Spirit by Anonymous

Body, Mind, and Spirit © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 24, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Sunday, March 24, 2013
 
Today, I will not think beyond the current 24 Hours about the length of my sobriety, be it one day or one week or one month or one year or one decade or longer. Although alcoholism is chronic and incurable but can be in remission by abstinence, all the 24 Hours of clean time I may have accrued are gone if I buy into the delusion and illusion that I can get away with just one drink. And all that is needed is "just one" to set off the progression of the disease and dis-ease of alcoholism. Thus, even if I have racked up any significant number of 24 Hours and I "slip," I am no more sober than the co-alcoholic who woke up this morning with a hangover. Let me remember the yesterdays when I awoke to the harsh reality that the 24 Hours I had before then were gone, and let me know that my yesterdays are the best predictor of my todays and tomorrows and that I can apply the lessons from yesterday to avoid repeating their mistakes today. Further, let me keep my ego in check: another alcoholic who woke up hung over yesterday but is sober this morning is no less clean than I, even if my 24 Hours are more. Today, when it comes to being and staying sober, I will take it literally one day at a time. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

March 24, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, March 24, 2013
 
AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes from honestly telling your own experiences with drinking. In religion, they call it confession. We call it witnessing or sharing. You give a personal witness, you share your past experiences, the troubles you got into, the hospitals, the jails, the break-up of your home, the money wasted, the debts and all the foolish things you did when you were drinking. This personal witness lets out the things you had kept hidden, brings them out into the open, and you find release and strength.

Am I receiving strength from my personal witnessing?

Meditation for the Day
We cannot fully understand the universe. The simple fact is that we cannot even define space or time. They are both boundless, in spite of all we can do to limit them. We live in a box of space and time which we have manufactured by our own minds and on that depends all our so-called knowledge of the universe. The simple fact is that we can never know all things, nor are we made to know them. Much of our lives must be taken on faith.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my faith may be based on my own experience of the power of God in my life. I pray that I may know this one thing above all else in the universe.

Hazelden Foundation

March 24, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Sunday, March 24, 2013
 
Reflection for the Day
All of us are faced with the troubles and problems of daily living, whether we've been in The Program two days or 20 years. We'd sometimes like to believe we could take care of all our problems right now, but it rarely works that way. If we remember the slogan "Easy Does It" when we are ready to panic, we may come to know that the very best way to handle all things is "Easy." We put one foot in front of the other, doing the best we are capable of doing. We say, "Easy Does It," and we do it.

Are The Program's slogans growing with me as I grow with The Program?

Today I Pray
May even the words "Easy Does It" serve to slow me down in my headlong rush to accomplish too much too fast. May just the word "Easy" be enough to make me ease up on the whips that drive my ambitions, ease up on the accelerator which plunges me into new situations without enough forethought, ease off the number of hours spent in material pursuits. May I hark to the adage that Rome wasn't built in a single day. Neither can I build solutions to my problems all at once.

Today I Will Remember
Easy Does It.

Hazelden Foundation

March 24, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, March 24, 2013
 
Life is not a succession of days on earth, but rather it is an accumulation of experiences. Days are simply time locations where experiences transpired. The day on which no event occurred is a day lost out of life, for it had nothing in it to justify its memory.

Hazelden Foundation